The 23rd Annual Pumpkin Drop Scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 28

Get in the Halloween spirit at the 23rd annual Pumpkin Drop! The Society of Physics Students presents the event at noon on Thursday, Oct. 28 on the south side of Butte Hall, California State University, Chico.

Legend has it that Galileo Galilei demonstrated his Law of Falling Bodies by climbing to the top of the Tower of Pisa so that he could drop a large ball and a small ball at the same time. Both balls hit the ground together. Physics students will re-enact this great moment in the history of science using pumpkins.

An actor playing Albert Einstein will be the host as actors representing Aristotle, Galileo, and Newton each explain their theories of gravity. For a grand finale, students will use Galileo’s Law of Falling Bodies to drop pumpkins in time to the cannon blasts of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”